Fruit-case.



J. A. HILLIKER.

FRUIT CASE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN} 20, 1910.

978,429 v Patented Oct. 18, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Elvvuemtoz 6 3&3 I wl'fozmmsy J. A. HILLIKBR.

7 FRUIT BASE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 20, 1910.

Patented Oct. 18, 1910.

3 8HEETSSHEET 2.

J. A. HILLIKER.

FRUIT CASE.

APPLIOATIOH FILED JAN. 20, 1910.

Patented 0ct.18,1910.

3 BHEETS-SHEET 3.

JOEE? At'HILLIKER, OF EVANSTGN, ILLINOIS.

FEUIT CASE.

Application and January at, 1am. Serial No. ssaoaa To all whom it mayconcern: i Be it known that l, J QHN A. HILLIKER, a citizen of theUnited States, residin at Evanston, in-the county of Cook and tate ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFruit-Cases, of which the following is a. specification.

This invention embodies certain novel improvements in that t pe of casesor carriers l tlon and on the several figures of the drawshown anddescrib in my Letters Patent, No. 937805, patented Oct. 26, 1909, anddesigned especlally for use in the transportation of fruit, or the like.

The objects in the provision of the several improvements hereinaftermore fully described are to accomplish a saving of material in themanufacture of the case or carrier, afiord'much greater facilit inputting together the various parts of t e case preparatory to placingthe articles tobe shipped therein, and to secure a construction whichpossesses advantages of especial merit over my previous carrier inrespect particularly to the yielding or cushioning manner in which thefruit is retained within the cells or pockets; provided by theconstruction.

further aim of the present invention is to reduce the amount of foldingnecessary in order to set up or assemble the several parts of the fruitcase by the elimination of certain folds rovided in my patentedconstruction, an the substitution therefor of other means foraccomplishin the purpose thereof in a more simple, so stantial, andconveniently o' erable manner as will be pointed out ful y as thedescription roceed s. In the accompanying drawings igure'jl is aperspective view of a case, carrier, or tray made in accordance with thepresent invention; Fi s2 is a planview of'the blank from .which tie bodyofthe case is formed; Fig. 3 is a plan View of the blank which is foldedto form the longitudinal partitions; Fig. i is a view similar to Fig. 3of the blank that when folded constitutes a transverse. partition; Fig.5 is a fragmentary view showin a'corner portion of the carrier andillustrating more clearlythe manner in which such portion is formed;Fig. 6 is a fra mentary perspective View showing. an' en portion 0 one.of the transverse partitions; Fi 7 is a transverse sectional view Ithrough t e carrier; Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view through thecarrier, articles of fruit being illustrated in dotted llnes ininterlocking portions of a corner of the carrier and illustrating themanner of spacing the walls of the ends and sides thereof.

Throughout the following detail descrip- Zin a similar parts arereferred to by like Q re erence characters.

11 general construction the hereinafter described is quite similar tomypatented invention before referred to in that the improvedconstruction embodies the pro- VlSlOIl of a shallow receptacle, tray, orcase,

fruit carrier composed of a bottom 1, sides 2, and ends 3.

Thereis received in the receptacle aforesaid a filler or series oflongitudinal and transverse partitions 4 and 5 respectively, the saidpartitions as well as the sides and ends of the receptacle being ofdoublewalled structure. At opposite central points in the sides 2 areprovided finger openings 6 to facilitate lifting the receptacle inhandling the fruit, it being contemplated that each of the receptaclesor carriers'consti tuting the present invention shall be placed withothers in a box or lar e case, disposed one u on the other antransported in such con ition.

rovided with any suitable number of open- 1ngs 7 for the purpose ofventilation. The body of the receptacle or carrier is preferably madefrom a single blank .of material such as straw-board, chip-board, or'thelike, the blank being folded at its edges to pro 'vide the inner andouter walls of the sides 2 and ends 3. In like manner the several.

partitions 4 and 5 consist of folded material such as used for. makingthe body of the The bottom 1 may bereceptacle, and the folding providingspaced walls for said partitions. As shown thelongitudinal partitions 4are provided with notches 4- at their lower ed es and the centralportions of said notches lave tongues 4" projecting downwardlytherefrom, said tongues being ada ted to enter the space betweenthewalls-o the partitions 5 and constituting spacing members near thelower edges of said walls which permit, however, the yielding of thewalls under pressure caused by placing fruit in the cells of thereceptacle. -The partitionsfi are formed with slots leading from theirupper edges. and terminating a short distance above their of theartitions 4 and 5 as well as fort-hm walls 0 the sides and ends of thereceptacle, be adjacent to the lower edge portions of said partsbecausethe most flexibility of the walls is required at points aboutmidway between their lower and upper edges, or where the articles offruit when in the cells have their largest diameter, ordinarilyspeaking.

The above is illustrated very clearly in Fig. 7 of the drawing.

At their ends the partitions 4 are formed with the auxiliar tongues 4the width of I which is one-hal that of the tongues 4",

said tongues 4 passin throu h openings 3 in the inner walls 0 the en sof the receptacle and thus engaging between the two walls of such endsforming spacing memhers therebetween, the end portions of the walls ofsaid partitions 4 being in turn held separated by tongues 3" acting in amanner similar to the action of the tongues 5 of the partitions 5. In asimilar way the transverse partitions 5 have the tongues 5 at theirextremities which en age in openings 2' of the inner walls 0 the sides2, said walls of the partitions 5 at the extremities being spaced by thetongues 2" which coact similar to the tongues 5".

In view of the foregoing it will be a parent that the artitions formingthe ce ls in 1 the present orm of fruit receptacle coact with the sidesand ends to hold the walls of the latter spaced, but yieldable to affordthe desired advantages. The walls of the sides and ends, however, areheld spaced by means other than that above set forth, and referringparticularly in this connection to Fig. 5 it will be observed that apeculiar corner folding is provided. The outer wall of the end 3 isformed with an end extension 8, and the inner wall of the side 2overlaps said extension 8 and'itself is. formed with a locking tongue 9which engages with a slit 10 in the end 3. After the tongue 9 has beeninterlocked with the end 3 the inner wall of the end is folded over thetongue and said inner wall has a projection 11 at its extremity adaptedto be received in a slit 12 at the point where the tongue 9 bends fromthe side 2. 'By the tongue 9 the walls of the side 2 are held in spacedrotation at the extremities. In other words the manner of connecting thesides and ends of the receptacle at the corners is especiallyadvantageous in that the connecting means increasesthe flexibility oftheinner walls, or in otherwords 1'. A fruit carrier comprising sidesand ends composed of integral double walls, and

a filler wlthin saidcarrier so connected. withthe sides and ends as tohold the walls of the latter in spaced relation.

2. A fruit carrier comprlslng sides and ends composed of integral doublewalls, partitions. separating the carrier into cells or pockets, andmeans connecting the partitions with the sides and ends in such a manneras to hold the inner walls of the sides and ends in yielding spaced"relation ito the outer walls.

3. A fruit carrier comprising sides and ends composed of double walls,partitions separating the carrier into a plurality of cells or pockets,each partition being composed of double walls, means carried by thepartitions for holding the walls of the sides and ends in spacedrelation, and means carried by the sides and ends for holding the wallsof the partitions in spaced relation.

v4. A carrier for fruit comprising sides and ends. composed of doublewalls, a connection between the sides and the ends for holding the samein operative positions, said connection also constituting positive meansfor holding the walls of each side and end spaced. w y

5. A fruit carrier comprising sides and ends, each com osed of doublewalls, interlockin means etween the sides and ends for ho ding them inoperative positions, said interlocking means also holding the walls ofeach side and end in spaced relation.

6. A fruit carrier comprising sides and ends, each side and endconsisting of double walls, a ton e carried by one side and havinginterloc ing connection with a wall of the end to hold the double wallsof the side in spaced relation. .7

7. A fruit carrier comprising sides and ends. each composed of doublewalls, the

inner wall of a side being provided at an end thereof with atongue-interlocking with the outer wall of the adjacent end to hold thesides and ends in operative osition and at the same time positivelyholding the walls of each side and end spaced.

. 8. A fruit holding carrier comprising sides and ends composed ofintegral double walls, means at the corners of the carrier for holdingthe walls spaced at the corner portions, and a plurality of crossedpartitions in the carrier interlocking with the inner esseee walls ofthe sides and ends at intermediate so interlocking withthe sides andends as points, the interlocking means coasting te to hold the wallsthereof yieldably apart. 10 I hold the walls in spaced relation. Intestimon whereof I aflix my signature 9. A fruit holding carriercomprising a in presence 0' two Witnesses. 5 bottom, the edge portion ofwhich is folded JGHN A. HILLIKER.

upwardly and thence downwardly to pro- Witnesses: vide integral sidesand ends eomposed'of CLAIR E. Mons,

double Walls, and a filler within the carrier CHAs. KING SHERMAN.

